Vaisheshika-sutra with Commentary
by Nandalal Sinha | 1923 | 149,770 words | ISBN-13: 9789332869165
The Vaisheshika-sutra 8.1.8, English translation, including commentaries such as the Upaskara of Shankara Mishra, the Vivriti of Jayanarayana-Tarkapanchanana and the Bhashya of Chandrakanta. The Vaisheshika Sutras teaches the science freedom (moksha-shastra) and the various aspects of the soul (eg., it's nature, suffering and rebirth under the law of karma). This is sutra 8 (‘attribute and action are not causes of...’) contained in Chapter 1—Of Presentative Cognition—of Book VIII (of ordinary cognition by means of conjunction or combination).
Sūtra 8.1.8 (Attribute and Action are not causes of...)
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 8.1.8:
गुणकर्मसु गुणकर्माभावात् गुणकर्मापेक्षं न विद्यते ॥ ८.१.८ ॥
guṇakarmasu guṇakarmābhāvāt guṇakarmāpekṣaṃ na vidyate || 8.1.8 ||
guṇa-karmasu—attributes and actions; guṇa-kārma-abhāvāt—in consequence of the non-existence of attribute and action; guṇa-karma-apekṣaṃ—dependent upon attribute and action; na—not; vidyate—exists.
8. (Cognition), dependent upon Attribute and Action, doesnot exist in the case of Attributes and Actions, inasmuch as Attribute and Action do not exist in Attribute and Action.
Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:
(English rendering of Śaṅkara Miśra’s commentary called Upaskāra from the 15th century)
[Full title: Attribute and Action are not causes of cognition of Attribute and Action]
Is there, then, dependence upon attribute and action, also in the case of attribute and action? He says, No:
[Read sūtra 8.1.8 above]
“Cognition” is the complement of the aphorism. Since there is no cognition of attribute as distinguished with the possession of another attribute, and since there is no cognition of action as distinguished with the possession of another action, there is no cognition thereof, which is dependent upon attribute and action. For there exists no attribute in an attribute nor action in actions, whereby they might appear as distinctions in them. This is the import.—8.